More Women Elected -- As Democrats

Continuing a trend I've been tracking and writing about for some time, women made slight gains in reaching elected office in the '08 election -- by virtue of more women elected as Democrats, but fewer as Republicans.

Here in Massachusetts, there will again be 12 women in the state senate (although not the exact same 12 as before) -- all Democrats. There will be 40 in the house, up from 38; 37 Democrats, up from 34, and just 3 Republicans, down from 4.

Nationally, the total number of women state legislators will go up slightly, from 1749 to 1784 -- 24.2% of the total, according to the Rutgers Center for American Women in Politics. Again, it was an increase in Democrats (13 more in state senates, 48 more in houses/assemblies), but a decrease in Republicans (down for senators and 22 reps).

The number of women Democrats in statewide elected office will jump from 45 to 53; the number of Republicans drops from 27 to 25.

In Washington, the number of women in the US Senate sneaks up from 16 to 17 -- thanks to a +2 for Dems, to 13, and despite a -1 for Republicans, to just 4. (Thank goodness for Maine!)

74 women in the US House will also be an all-time high, and guess how that happened? Democrats went from 51 to 57, while Republicans went from 20 to 17.

By my count -- not knowing the final results of all races -- it appears that Republicans in Congress will be just over 90% male in the coming session. Yeesh.